Birkenstock x Rick Owens
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German footwear brand Birkenstock has partnered with Paris-based designer Rick Owens on a capsule collection of its ubiquitous functional sandal.
Owens has waived his gothic wand over the shoe that was once considered an orthopedic comfort clog the polar opposite of anything chic.
Now designer versions, like Phoebe Philo's Céline's furry footwear to Owens' aesthetic - his Birkenstocks have been reimagined in grey cow hair - have made Birkenstock cool again.
The collection, which is launching 17 April, will debut at the Rick Owens boutique in Los Angeles.
The event has been deemed as a night of foot worship, with massages offered with Birkenstock's new moisturing lotion, before fetishists can have their feet and sandals photographed by Paul Kooiker, notes Dazed Digital.
Owens told Vogue: “I didn’t really want to do that much to them, I didn’t really want to throw a lot of spangles at it, and call it a day. I wanted to do something to the architecture, so I just extended the straps so they hit the floor, and I added more holes, because when you add holes they become confection. Like lace. Punching holes always makes something more delicate.”
Owens also stated the two-bar sandal in cow-hide as having “straps like feathered wings. I did them in my color palette of grays and pearls. They’re actually very pretty!”
Credit: Birkenstock Instagram